Game 4: Post-Game Quotes

June 4, 2005

NCAA Regional (Clemson, SC) Game 4: #1 Clemson vs. #2 College of Charleston Post-Game Quotes

Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett “The story of tonight was that we played a good ball club. They kept going at us with power and speed. I thought Josh handled that very well. He was tremendous, having the first shut out in the post season for a long time. He had all of his pitches working for him tonight and that allowed us to play good defense behind him. We made a couple of errors but they did not hurt us. We got the job done when we needed to. We played really well offensively against a good pitching staff. We’re glad to get through that one and will keep our focus on the prize and get ready to play tomorrow.”

On the offensive performance: “I think we’re seeing the ball well right now. We’re facing some good pitching. This time of year, you’re going to see everyone’s number one starter. The one thing that has really helped us is that we’ve had a tough schedule. We have seen great pitching almost every game. We’ve had to work for every run that we’ve gotten. We’ve had to use our bunt game; we’ve learned to move runners around. We’ve learned how to win some close ball games, which we struggled with a little bit early in the season.”

Clemson Pitcher Josh Cribb “The first few innings I felt good and as the game went along, I had control of every pitch. That has helped me in the last couple of outings. I’ve been able to hit all of my spots and throw each and every pitch for a strike. That’s going to help us out in the long run if I can get in a good rhythm, throw strikes and let the defense play behind me.”

On pitching in big games in the future: “I’ll do whatever Coach wants me to do. One of my main goals this season has been to do whatever I can to help the team win. I think every game is a big game and we want to win each and every one. If Coach Leggett has the confidence to give me the ball then I’m ready to step on the mound.”

College of Charleston Head Coach John Pawlowski “You can’t give a good team like Clemson four outs and we made a couple of mistakes in a couple of innings and they capitalized on it. Besides those mistakes we did some mental things that hurt us today as well. I also thought that Josh Cribb was outstanding today, I don’t think he missed a spot all night. That is the best pitching performance against our club all year, he should’ve been pitching in Yankee stadium tonight. Clemson deserved to win and we have to regroup and get ourselves ready to play tomorrow at 3 o’clock. Overall our approach hasn’t been that great in this regional but hopefully we will pull it together tomorrow. We can’t keep getting behind in the count and we need to be a little less tentative. I have faith in our boys and I believe they want to win this thing and that they will come out ready to play tomorrow. “

College of Charleston Centerfielder Brett Gardner “He was throwing his fast ball right where he wanted all night, and like coach said I don’t think he missed a spot all night. He was also throwing that hard slider for a strike every time and he was just mixing in a change up with that as well. He kept it where it wanted it and it kept us guessing. We’ve just got to put it behind us and know that we can still finish first in this regional. We just have to come out tomorrow like we have all season and be ready to win this thing.”